Financing of entreprises - 2025-12
Published on 10th of February 2026
In 2025, loans to non-financial corporations to finance investments increased by more than 4%
- In 2025, the growth in financing granted to non-financial corporations (NFCs) reached 3.1% (after 1.6% in 2024; see Table 1), driven by both the increase in outstanding debt securities (4.1%, after 0.7% in 2024) and bank loans (2.6%, after 2.1% in 2024). Companies used these loans to finance investments, for which outstanding loans increased by 4.2% in 2025 (after 3.5% in 2024), while simultaneously going on reducing their outstanding cash loans (-4.5%, after -2.9% in 2024).
- The average interest rate on new financing to NFCs fell in 2025 (3.52% in December 2025, when it reached 3.93% at the end of 2024) due to the decline in the cost of bank loans (3.54% in December 2025, after 4.18% at the end of 2024), while the interest rate on debt securities remained almost unchanged between December 2024 and December 2025 (3.48% after 3.46%) although volatile throughout the year.
1 - Overview of NFCs : Outstanding amounts and flows in € Bn, annual growth rate and cost in %
(non-seasonally adjusted) ![]()
| Dec- 2025(p) | Annnual growth rate | Cost (annual Interest rate) | |||||||||
| Outstanding
amounts |
Transactions
(cumulative over 12 month) |
New business
(cumulative over 12 month) |
Dec- 2024 | Oct- 2025 | Nov- 2025(r) | Dec- 2025(p) | Dec- 2024 | Oct- 2025 | Nov- 2025(r) | Dec- 2025(p) | |
| NFC's global financing | 2,142.5 | 65.4 | 726.4 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.93 | 3.37 | 3.42 | 3.52 |
| Loans | 1,408.4 | 36.3 | 353.3 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 4.18 | 3.45 | 3.46 | 3.54 |
| Investment | 1,031.6 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.2 | ||||||
| equipment | 644.2 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 3.8 | ||||||
| real-estate | 387.4 | 2.9 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 5.0 | ||||||
| Treasury | 296.6 | -2.9 | -3.0 | -2.6 | -4.5 | ||||||
| Other lending | 80.2 | 4.1 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 11.6 | ||||||
| Loans up to €1 million | 123.3 | 4.17 | 3.68 | 3.67 | 3.72 | ||||||
| Loans over €1 million | 230.0 | 4.18 | 3.30 | 3.33 | 3.46 | ||||||
| Securities other than shares | 734.0 | 29.1 | 373.0 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.46 | 3.23 | 3.36 | 3.48 |
(r) : revised data ; (p) : provisional data
Monthly changes in outstanding loans by purpose (seasonally adjusted data in € Bn)![]()
Cost (all maturities combined) by financing sources (in %) ![]()
2- Bank loans by size of NFC![]()
- In 2025, the growth in outstanding loans remained positive but varied depending on company size. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and companies of unspecified size, it increased slightly to 1.2% (after 0.9% in 2024). It decreased for intermediate-sized enterprises (ISEs) to 0.5% (after 1.2% in 2024), as well as for large firms to 3.0% (after 3.2% in 2024).
- Between the end of November and the end of December 2025, the average interest rate on new loans increased for all company sizes: it reached 3.32% for large firms, 3.51% for SMEs and companies of unspecified size, and 3.70% for ISEs. However, in 2025, it declined for all categories of companies compared to the end of 2024.
| Outstanding
amounts (in Bn €) |
Outstanding year-on-year growth in % | Cost in % (annual interest rate) |
|||||||
| Dec- 2025(p) | Dec- 2024 | Oct- 2025 | Nov- 2025(r) | Dec- 2025(p) | Dec- 2024 | Oct- 2025 | Nov- 2025(r) | Dec- 2025(p) | |
| - SME and unspecified size | 541.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 4.12 | 3.43 | 3.45 | 3.51 |
| - ISE | 386.3 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4.28 | 3.65 | 3.63 | 3.70 |
| - Large firms | 224.4 | 3.2 | 5.6 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 4.13 | 3.14 | 3.17 | 3.32 |
Interest rates (all maturities combined) by enterprise size (in %) ![]()
Outstanding amounts of loans to resident enterprises by size (in € Bn) ![]()
3 - Bank loans by sector (outstanding amounts in €bn, annual growth rate in %) ![]()
- In 2025, the growth in outstanding drawn credits also varied across business sectors. It remained positive for the advisory and business supports activities (+5.1%, after +10.1% in 2024), real estate activities (+4.8%, after +2.9%), transportation and storage (+3.2%, the same as in 2024), and agriculture, forestry and fishing (+2.3%, after +3.5%).
- However, outstanding drawn credits continued to decline in the education, health, and social work services (-3.5% vs -1.7% in 2024), the wholesale and retail trade (-3.2%, after -2.5%), manufacturing (-1.7%, after -2.9%), accommodation and food services (-1.0%, after -0.4%), and construction (-0.9%, after -3.1%). Growth in outstanding drawn credits became negative in the information and communication sector (-3.2%, after +3.8% in 2024).
Outstanding amounts by sector (€bn)
December 2025
December 2025
Year on year growth of drawn credits by sector (in %)
Year on year change of drawn and undrawn credits by sector (in %)
4 - Quarterly additional information about loans to NFCs rates (1)
Cost of new loans by purpose ![]()
(en %)
Breakdown of new loans by purpose ![]()
(in % of new business credits excluding overdrafts)
Characteristics of new loans to NFC![]()
| Average rate (en %) | Average maturity (in month) |
Share of loans fixed rate (in %) |
||
| Jul-2025 | Oct-2025 | Oct-2025 | Oct-2025 | |
| Overdrats | 4.67 | 4.55 | ||
| Treasury excluding overdrafts | 3.62 | 3.55 | 27 | 23 |
| Equipment | 3.50 | 3.44 | 119 | 81 |
| Real-estate | 3.35 | 3.35 | 198 | 86 |
| Other investment loans | 4.43 | 4.28 | 56 | 99 |
The survey is conducted among a sample of branches and headquarters of banking institutions operating in metropolitan France. It takes into account new loans granted in the first month of each quarter to non-financial corporations. It is based on the effective rate in the narrow sense (TESE), i.e. the interest component of the overall effective rate (TEG).
Download the PDF version of the document
EN_Stat_Info_financing_of_firms_202512.pdf
Updated on the 12th of February 2026